This was a striking indictment. "Are you saying that the Disney Corporation has made an evil pact with a weak and despicable American press establishment?"

"NOW COME ON, Rutger," I said, "You're really carrying this all too far. If you think it's wrong for a company to provide its services free to the press, what do you say about theaters providing free tickets to reviewers? About press boxes at sporting events? Did the U.S. military charge you admission when you went to cover Vietnam?"

He looked at me skeptically. "Giving someone tickets to an Alan Alda movie is not the moral equivalent of giving them a vacation in the Florida sun. It's more like giving them a vacation in a dank and airless pit."

"However," he continued, "your basic point is correct. Yes, I do think there are too many mutual favors. The press cannot be impartial if it has its hand in the pocketbook of those which it means to cover."

He was right. "Rutger," I said, "You've hit the nail on the head. The press has shamed itself. Why, even if I was given the chance, I wouldn't go to Disney World."

"Atta boy," Rutger smiled. "And who needs 'em anyway? I just got a press kit in the mail--seems this year is the 10th anniversary of the Topless Banana out on Route 1...."